Windows 8 Start Button Has Returned: On A Mouse

The Windows team has never had it easy since Apple came around. As a result of major user backlash, Microsoft put the Start Button back into Windows 8. But, you have to buy a mouse to use it.

The Sculpt Comfort Mouse has a blue strip on the left-hand side. Swiping up on the strip cycles through apps; swiping down reveals the Metro app task switcher. Pressing the button will take you to the Start screen. The mouse connects to your PC using Bluetooth. It will cost $39.95 when it goes on sale in June.

The Sculpt Mobile Mouse has a simple Start button next to its wheel that will open the Start menu in Windows 7 or the Start screen in Windows 8. The Sculpt Mobile is a wireless USB mouse, and it will cost $29.95 when it goes on sale this month.

I'm not sure whether this will satisfy the quells of Windows 8 rebellers. This will certainly be something to watch.

 

Zact: The Reinvented Wireless Carrier

Imagine a wireless carrier that allowed you to build your own plan. Zact, an upstart service provider created by Andreessen Horowitz-backed ItsOn that uses Sprint’s network, has an amazing breakthrough on wireless.

Zact has all no contract plans, so there is no commitment. Just a simple plan, 500 minutes, 1,000 texts, and 1 GB of data will cost just short of $40. At the end of the month, Zact's billing style is much different than that of traditional cell providers. Regular carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, will charge you for what you paid for, and will send you no notification that you should downgrade or upgrade your plan. Zact automatically goes and looks back at your usage for the past month. It will only charge you for the nearest plan that fits your usage; no extra charges for data/texts/call minutes you didn't use. This is a different business model for cell carriers, actually try and charge the customer as little as possible.

There is only one catch though: Zact only has two Android smartphones (three if you count a color change), and then only one with LTE. None of them are very pretty though. Ting is a slightly more attractive Sprint MVNO, but only because it offers more devices. I am definitely going to be keeping my eye on Zact, they are really onto something.